Friday, 6 August 2010

Zooarchaeologist (being a mummy) did a great post recently about shaving £200 off her monthly budget and I commented that I had got our weekly food shopping bill down to £50 for the four of us and she asked to see our Menu Plan, so I thought I would post one for you all to see, with prices too. I do a weekly shop at Aldi and if anything else is needed it tends to be the co-op in the village.

Now I do have a good store cupboard and freezer with staples like gravy, frozen stock), herbs, spices, flour etc in.

Sunday

Lunch - mince (£1.99) and onions with veg from the garden and new potatoes from the garden too

Dinner - Poached eggs (99p or six for the butcher or friend) on muffins (60p)

Monday

Lunch - Scrambled egg on toast (99p for the eggs and 99p for a loaf of bread)

Dinner - Bolognese made with left over mince pasta (99p a bag) and pasata (59p) with added herbs and any veg left over from Sunday dinner (pureed). Garlic bread (home made)

I DONT buy cakes or biscuits, but I do buy the ingredients to make them and have baking powder, raisins etc in the cupboard board all the time. I buy one loaf a week and then make all the rest (lidl do a really good inexpensive bread flour and I buy in bulk when passing).

I also make sure I have Ice cream and cone in and when we hear the ice cream van we make our own. Sprinkles on top to make special or if they are really lucky then we might have a flake.

The garden is a huge source of produce for me, the peas are just coming to pod and the beans will be ready in the next few weeks. The spinach and chard is all cut and come again. We have tomatoes and onions, which we turned in to pasta sauce last year.

I always check the Internet to find out who has what offers on and shop around to ensure I get the best deal. I will buy cheese and freeze it.

So how much do you spend on your weekly shop and how do you keep the bills down in the current climate?